I thought choir barayaa1, and almost dove under the bed!
Knock knock knock KNOCK
Somebody was banging on the room door!
"IMRAAN IMRAAN, COME QUICKLY, THE TWINS ARE BLEEDING..."
What! Both of them!?, I jammed on my slippers, left the test on the bed and ran after Imraan who was already halfway to the lounge. My job at an ECD facility for special needs made me an excellent first-aider...I knew I could help calmly. Calm was not what I walked into...
The sight of the two boys was not one for weak stomachs, they both were covered in bright red blood, it was dripping from their heads, running little rivers down there faces, all over their hands and the carpet they where sitting on was smeared.
The twins however, were staring wide-eyed at everybody in what I hope was fear.
Shireen was besides herself and hysterical...my babies, my boys, they going to die Bilal, do something! Oh Allah...
She herself appeared to be blood-free however.
Bilal was shouting at her to shut up so he could think.
My MiL was trying to console her while ordering Imraan to tell the doctor its an emergency.
Imraan was scrolling through his phone, no doubt looking for my Mamagees2 number.
My FiL was frantically flipping through the phone book looking for the ambulance number.
Muhammad Bhai3, oddly enough, was calmly reading the paper, oblivious to the drama before him.
I wanted to laugh! The smell was distinctive, how did they not recognize it!
I kept a straight face and walked over to the boys...in a clear loud voice, I said: stand up and give it to me right now!
"oh Mari ma4...they have a knife, Bilal, Fatima saw a knife! They stabbed each other in the head, Bilal", Shireen started with another round of hysterics.
"give you what Fati-Mamee5", said one boy.
"yah, what you want Fati-Mamee", said the other.
"STAND UP RIGHT NOW, BOTH OF YOU!!", I said, using my teacher voice.
As they stood up, bottles and bottles of Maccurachomb tumbled out from under their 'blood stained' T-Shirts.
The room had fell silent.
"where did you get these?" I asked them.
"you gave us!", said one...
"don't lie, we took it from Nana's shop", said the other.
Shireens family owned a supermarket situated on the ground level and they lived in an apartment above.
How two 5year olds managed to do this without anybody noticing, was beyond me...but I also know how resourceful children are, especially if there are two of them.
I can't count how many times, my sister and I had put a drop of Macuracomb on our fingers to show our mother we got cut. We loved the fancy plasters she use to keep.
I suppose Muhammad Bhai had been sitting there the whole time too, but he knows better than to discipline 'Bilal's Children'
"they just need a bath Shireen, the red stains should fade in a week..." I said.
"oh Allah, they can't have red faces for Eid!", she said.
I sensed a new drama unfolding so I started retreating. Imraan was already late for Tarawee6 and his best friend Saleem was waiting outside. Saleem was getting married soon to a girl from Malawi and was having huge issues with land conveying for the extension he was trying to build, so he often needed Imraan's advice. His wedding was going to be in Malawi and the Walima7, two weeks later in Durban, Imraan and I had decided to go to Malawi instead of taking a holiday for our anniversary. We were really looking forward to the upcoming trip.
Back in my room I wondered how to recreate the moment Imraan and I had lost.
I looked through Imraan's cupboard for the smiley face tie he never wears, I got a huge chart board and folded it into a shirt with a collar, inside I wrote, "Congratulations, you going to be a dad, Insha'Allah.8" I draped the tie and leaned the card against Imraan's pillows.
Inspired! I quickly looked for his smilely boxer shorts and stretched it over the bottom of the card leaving the legs dangling. I found a powder blue sock and a pink one in my draw and stuffed them up with some of his rolled up socks, creating 'legs' I placed these poking out from the shorts. A baseball cap backwards resting on the top of the card and pillow completed my make-shift man. I tucked the positive pregnancy test into the stuck on pocket of the card. There...that was cute.
That night I did my tilawaat9 of Quraan with one hand over my abdomen and a silly grin I couldn't wipe off.
When Imraan came home, he woke me with a kiss and a tight hug, then he slipped a Lindor into my mouth.
"Il take you to the Dr. after work tomorrow." he whispered.
We snuggled up and fell asleep smiling...dreaming of the good things to come.
Glossary:
- Robbers gained entry.
- maternal uncle
- brother
- oh my mother-dramtic expression
- aunty-married to fathers brother
- extended night-time prayer in ramadaan
- feast after the wedding
- if Allah wills
- recitation
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